


Snapshots

by Caiti (Caitriona_3)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Darcy Lewis & Bruce Banner Adopted Siblings, Darcy Lewis & Tony Stark Friendship, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 01:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/959993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitriona_3/pseuds/Caiti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots of a life in flux...this is not where Tony & Darcy planned to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots

**Author's Note:**

> If you've read my "I am Darcy Lewis" drabble collection, this is not going to be new. However, I liked this one so much that I decided to make a couple of minor changes and start a whole new universe. This will be the introduction story. The rest will be one-shots written when I have time around my other works. 
> 
> This is still AU. The team that would one day make up the Avengers (and their closest friends/backup) met in high school Yes, all of them...so ages and histories have been adjusted. This really doesn't factor in too much except they are all pretty relaxed with each other as opposed to feeling their way around the whole 'team' thing as well as knowing each other's backgrounds. 
> 
> This shouldn't matter too much since this series is going to basically be a fluffy sort of escape.

**Snapshot 1**

“No, that can’t be right.”

The doctor blinked at her for a moment before he patted her hand. “I assure you, Miss, the test has confirmed your personal findings. You are pregnant.”

“I can’t be,” Darcy insisted. “I just can’t be. I mean…well, not to get to forward here, doc, but sex is kind of required for that, and it’s been…” She stopped and considered. “If that night was going to get me pregnant, I’d be definitely showing by now.”

His gaze grew concerned. “Have you been to any parties within the last month?” he asked gently. “Are there any blank spots in your memory?”

“The only parties I’ve been to lately have been tiny affairs with family,” she answered, deflecting the question slightly. She’d picked this guy from a list JARVIS provided of doctors not affiliated in any way with SHIELD or local law enforcement. He also wasn’t likely to show up on society headlines, so she felt safe in coming here. While she had figured this was a false alarm, she wanted to take as many precautions for secrecy as she could. “As far as blank spots…” Her voice petered out. “Oh, hell.”

“Miss?”

“Yeah, uh, look, I need to go,” she replied, grabbing her things.

“Miss, if you are-“

“The authorities know,” she interrupted in a flat tone.

His kindly face wrinkled even further in distress as he made assumptions about the implication of the authorities being involved. In a compassionate move, he dropped the subject and patted her shoulder. “Let me get you a prescription for some vitamins. I would recommend you finding a good obstetrician. I can give you some names?”

“Sure,” Darcy replied, still reeling a bit from the news.

After taking the prescription and the names, Darcy left the office in a slight daze. Happy, noting her expression, silently helped her into the car and drove back to the Tower as quickly as possible. She took the private elevator up to her room where she began to pace, her hands opening and closing in anxious motions.

“Miss Lewis?”

She blinked at the concerned tone coming from the AI. “Yes, JARVIS?” she tried to reply as evenly as possible.

Nothing got past JARVIS. “Miss Lewis, your heart rate and breathing are elevated, and your pacing appears to be of a particularly troubled nature.”

“Troubled?” She laughed, a note of hysterics in her voice. “Oh, I’m in trouble alright.”

“Shall I summon assistance?”

“No!” Darcy forced herself to stop and take a breath. “No,” she replied in a calmer fashion. “JARVIS, where is Tony?”

“Mr. Stark is currently in his private laboratory.”

“Anybody with him?” she asked as she retrieved a piece of paper out of her purse.

“No, Miss Lewis.”

“I need to talk to him. It’s a little urgent,” she informed the AI, proud of how steady she kept her voice.

“Of course, Miss Lewis. I have the elevator waiting for you and will alert Mr. Stark to your arrival.”

“Thanks, J,” she replied as she began moving slowly towards the elevator. The problem now? What was she supposed to say?

Stepping into the lab, she watched Tony whisk holograms around him like some overzealous sorcerer planning an arcane battle. A chime sounded and he stopped his planning to turn towards the door.

“Hey, Darce,” he greeted as he moved towards her. “JARVIS says you need my help with something?”

She began chickening out of the whole thing almost the moment he began talking. “Are you busy?” she asked. “Because I can come back some other time.” Her hands fluttered slightly as she began backing away. “You know what; I’ll just come back later.”

Before she managed a quarter turn, Tony grabbed her arms and turned her to face him. “Now, I _know_ something’s wrong. Darcy Lewis doesn’t run away…especially not from me.” He guided her to one of the benches and made her sit down beside him. “Talk to me.”

Darcy closed her eyes and forced herself to take several deep breaths before focusing on him once more. “Okay, do you remember the weirdness a few weeks ago?”

“The ‘missing week’,” he replied, frowning in consideration. “When you and I seem to have lost a week’s worth of memories and the rest of the team had a week’s worth of panic because we had disappeared? Of course I remember. The medics and scientists and even JARVIS ran every scan none to man and probably a few they created especially for the occasion. Everything was fine except for seven days missing from our memory banks about where we were and who had us. I am _still_ working on that. Why?”

Her breath grew shallow and his eyes narrowed, but she shook her head. He waited; his fingers tapping as his own nerves apparently began to echo hers. She licked her lips. “There’s one test they didn’t do…or they did it too early,” she whispered. Her fingers trembled as she held out the paper she’d kept clutched in her hand.

He took the paper from her and unfolded it. She watched as his eyes skimmed the words once, twice, three times. Now her entire frame began to shiver and his gaze moved up to catch hers. “You’re pregnant,” he said in a monotone, nondescript voice. Shock didn’t come much more obvious than this.

“Yeah,” she nodded slowly.

“Pregnant,” he repeated as though saying it a second time could make it any more or less real.

“Yes, Tony, pregnant,” she snapped. “As in expectant, gestating, knocked up, with child…however you want to put it, I’m pregnant!”

“Okay, okay,” he replied, his voice finally showing some of the strain she was feeling. He stood up and started to pace. “And you’re sure it’s from that week?”

“I’m pretty damn sure it’s from that week. As far as my memory goes, it’s the only time I have unaccounted for where something might have happened.”

“I just mean there’s no chance of, you know, an accidental-“

“Oh, for goodness sake, Tony, as far as I know, I haven’t had sex in six months!”

“Why the hell not?” he asked, distracted from his original point.

“Tony!”

“Right, right, later,” he muttered. “So, sometime during our lost week, you, ah, picked up a new… passenger.”

If she wasn’t moving beyond freaked out into a full out panic mode, the look on his face might have made her laugh. As it was, she turned large pleading eyes towards him. “Who took us, Tony, and what did they do to me?”

He froze slightly at her shaky, thin voice and then came to sit back down beside her. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he hugged her tightly to him. “I’m going to find out.”

**Snapshot 2**

The next couple of weeks had been a series of emotional highs and lows. After the first shock, the idea of the baby both thrilled and terrified her. She wasn’t sure she had ever planned on being a mother, but the idea was growing on her. Her biggest concern was the manner of the conception. If they could just get that question settled, she could focus on the whole idea of actually being pregnant.

Tony had gone into overdrive trying to track down what had happened to them during the seven days they were missing. Any and all tests that could be run, safely, were done again. Nothing seemed off. The pregnancy seemed to be the only result. He drove SHIELD and half a dozen private investigators to the limits of their tolerance pursuing every lead. The team backed him, worried in their own way, but they split their time between helping him and smothering her.

It might have amused her more…or possibly driven her crazy…but morning sickness suddenly set in with a passion. Apparently it had been giving her a little bit of time to get used to the idea of a baby before kicking into full gear. Every morning, without fail, getting out of bed triggered it. Her moods grew more and more irritable in the morning, and people started avoiding her rooms until she chose to appear as she tended towards snappish while sick. Only a couple of folks dared to traipse into her domain, but since they were her favorite people, she restrained herself. Tony and Bruce (plus Hulk of course) came and went freely while JARVIS would shift her environment to anything she needed in the way of lighting and music.

One morning after a couple of bad days in a row, she leaned her head against Tony’s shoulder as he sat on her couch next to her. “I am such a bitch.”

“You’re pregnant,” he pointed out even as his fingers continued dancing across his tablet. “I think the hormones are supposed to make you crazy.” She pinched him in the side. “Ouch!” he exclaimed, slapping at her fingers. “Damn it, woman! That hurt!”

“Teach you to ramble on to me about hormones,” she laughed. Her stomach suddenly rolled. “Damn.” She hurried towards the restroom.

As she finished rinsing her mouth, she heard quiet voices in her main living area. Curiosity drove her out quicker than usual since so few people came to her rooms anymore. Whoever it had been was gone, but Tony was setting something out on her table. He tossed her a grin. “Here, come try this.”

A pale, bubbling drink and small cookies waited for her. She frowned as she picked up one of the cookies. “Tony, I haven’t been able to keep anything down in the mornings, you know that.”

“I read somewhere that ginger can help with morning sickness,” he replied with a shrug. “So, ginger snap cookies and a ginger ale. You never know.”

She huffed out a laugh, but sat down and picked up one of the cookies. Staring at it in trepidation for a long moment, she sighed. “Guess it’s worth a try.” She began nibbling, deciding to start small and hopefully prevent any reappearance. Wonders of wonders, it began to work. Each little bit added to her stomach in the tiniest of increments helped it to settle, and the ginger ale proved equally as soothing. Her head fell back with a grateful relief. “I could just about kiss you, Tony.”

“Score one for the genius,” he laughed.

“Don’t push it,” she smirked, pointing a finger at him.

  
He grinned back, but after a moment the smile grew strained. “Uh, Darce…”

Her eyebrow rose as his voice petered out. “Problem? I’m willing to help, because I’m thinking you just saved my sanity and possibly someone else’s life.”

“You know,” he rose and started pacing. “I’ve been thinking. Considering the start date of this whole situation, the whole baby-making process, there’s…well, it struck me as odd that both of us were taken, but only you had any kind of obvious…” His voice died off again as he waved his hand towards her stomach.

Her lips twitched as she watched him try to put his thoughts into words. Usually Tony had no problems verbalizing his thoughts – actually the problem was usually the reverse, getting him to stop. Now though, he seemed to be tripping over exactly how to phrase what was going through his mind, but she was pretty sure she already knew. “Tony,” she tried, but he kept pacing and mumbling, so she tried again. “Tony.”

“I’m trying to say this, Darce,” he muttered distractedly.

She sighed. “Tony!” she exclaimed.

He wheeled around, eyes widening, “What?”

“Sit down,” she encouraged him, waving at the spot next to her. He perched more than sat, but she wasn’t going to argue. Her amused gaze met his more anxious look. “Both of us were taken,” she agreed calmly, “and I came back pregnant.” He opened his mouth, but she held up a hand and he stayed quiet. “You’re thinking there’s a better than average chance that you’re the father.”

Tony blinked a few times before slumping back against the cushions. “Yeah. It just seemed weird for us both to be gone and only you showed any effects.” His eyes narrowed at her humor filled gaze. “What’s so funny?”

“I hadn’t realized how much you’d focused on finding out what had happened,” she smiled. “You blew right past one of the more obvious points.”

He leaned his head back on the cushion, turning it sideways to give her a mock glare. “You’d already thought of it.”

“Pretty much as soon as I’d realized I must have become pregnant while we were ‘lost’,” she nodded.

“You think maybe next time you could _share_ these insights?” he demanded.

Darcy blinked in surprise. “I thought I had,” she shrugged. “I mean, I came to you first because we were the two affected. If I hadn’t thought there was a good chance the baby could be yours, I would probably have gone to Bruce first.”

“Darcy,” Tony groaned, “that makes no sense, and I’m a genius.”

“You’re going to genius your way into a smack if you keep that up.”

**Snapshot 3**

Darcy barreled into the lab to find Tony and Bruce debating some diagram or another. Both of them looked up at the interruption, blinking a bit in owlish surprise. She shook her head. “Sorry to interrupt science at work, but I’m having a bit of a clothing emergency, and I need to get out. Since I’ve been _requested_ not to leave the Tower without telling someone, I’m telling you two.” Really, she thought people were overreacting. Women were pregnant all the time, and they still went about their daily lives without all the folderol. Yes, granted, most women didn’t exactly have the connections she did, but still.

“Clothing emergency?” Tony parroted. His eyes glanced down towards her waistline. “Isn’t it a little early to be having clothing issues?” Bruce gave a soft snort and Tony frowned. “What?”

Darcy rolled her eyes at him. “That’s not exactly the first part that starts expanding.” Her lips twitched as his eyes did a quick scan of her before they began to focus. She snapped her fingers to draw his attention back up to her face. “Yes, exactly. I had enough trouble with tops to begin with and it’s about to get ridiculous. I’m going out.”

Tony and Bruce exchanged glances. Even as Tony opened his mouth, she planted her hands on her hips and eyed them both imperiously. “I’m pregnant,” she declared, “not an invalid.”

“Darcy,” Bruce voiced a soft reprimand and her scowl turned petulant. He shook his head. “Let him finish.”

“He didn’t even start,” she grumbled.

“Because you cut him off,” he countered. She heaved a sigh at him and turned to Tony.

“Can I talk now?” Tony demanded. “’Cause that was rude. All I wanted to do was tell you to take Happy.” She drew in a breath, but he held up a hand. “You just got through telling us how much trouble you’ve got and that you’re going to have more. Are you planning on walking everywhere? You really want to handle traffic all day? Just let Happy take you to Pepper’s places and get them to make whatever you need.”

Now Darcy threw up her hands. “Pepper’s places?” she asked incredulously. “Are you nuts? I’ve seen what she wears. I can’t afford those kinds of clothes even living rent free. There’s no way.”

“Is that all?” he shrugged. He started digging around in the drawers of his table.

“Third drawer, right side, sir,” JARVIS spoke up.

“Right.” Tony pulled out a card and handed it to her. “Here, go crazy.”

She blinked at the card in her hand and then back up at him. “Tony-“

“No, no,” he interrupted, taking her arm and guided her out of the room. “Bruce and I have science to be doing and you have shopping to handle.” His smile grew. “JARVIS, let Happy know to pick her up in the private garage.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Go, go,” he urged, all but pushing her into the elevator. Buy whatever you need. I sincerely doubt you can break me.”

“Tony-“

“Bye,” he waved over his shoulder as he strode back towards the lab. “Have a good time!”

The elevator doors closed and Darcy all but stamped her foot. “JARVIS!”

“Yes, Miss Lewis?”

“I can’t use his credit card!” she exclaimed.

“Miss Lewis,” JARVIS replied in a gentle tone, “Mr. Stark views you as a trusted friend. As he is currently informing Dr. Banner, you are, and I quote, ‘a friend, a pregnant friend, and what’s more, a pregnant friend who might just be carrying my kid’.”

Darcy blinked at the argument before she rubbed her forehead. “If I don’t do this, he’ll do something crazier, won’t he?”

“Given Mr. Stark’s tendency to ‘go over the top’, I believe is the correct phrase, your deduction is quite likely accurate, Miss Lewis.”

“Oh, fine,” she sighed. “I’ll use the card.”

The elevator opened and she almost walked straight into Happy as he waited to escort her to the car. He just gave her a smile when she grumped and glowered. It took a few minutes as they drove towards their first stop, but laughter finally began bubbling up. Happy glanced at her in the review mirror, and she just shook her head. “Seriously, how is this my life?”

**Snapshot 4**

Darcy sat in her office chair with her eyes closed. She had asked JARVIS to lock the door and keep people away, but as she heard the door open, she realized she probably should have been a little more specific. Although she kept her eyes closed, her ears were more than enough witness to Tony’s actions. The striding walk he tended to be in when his mind was on some new invention or idea was the first sound she heard as the door opened. Suddenly there was a hitch, so he’d just looked up from whatever his tablet was showing and spotted her odd sort of behavior. A pause in the sound meant he was taking everything in and determining his reaction which should be coming right about…

“Darcy? What are you doing?”

She chuckled and opened her eyes, catching his look of confusion. “Hey, Tony.”

“Yeah, hey,” he nodded before frowning. “What are you doing?”

“Resting.”

“In an office chair? You’ve got a bed less than two minutes away,” he pointed out.

She shook her head. “I know that, but I’m working. I just needed a couple of minutes.”

“Right,” he replied in a tone that told her she was crazy. “You do know I’m your boss, right?”

“That would be hard to overlook,” she laughed. “Although, I think technically….”

“Technical, shmechnical,” Tony waved it off. “If I say you work for me, then you work for me. I’m just pointing out that it’s not going to be any kind of bother if you decide to go take a nap. Anybody wants to issue a complaint, then they can take it up with Pepper and that should count as their exit interview.”

Darcy blinked. “Okay, boss, let’s find out why you came traipsing down here before you start firing half the floor.”

“What? Oh, right, I came down to ask if you still have that report on the new computer chips. I think I noted some equations on the back of one of the pages, and I need to get those back.”

“Honestly, Tony,” she huffed in amusement. “You’ve got tablets and screens and JARVIS, not to mention scrap paper and notebooks galore, and you have to go marking up the reports?” She leaned over to pull out the file in question and her shirt stretched tight.

“Hey!” he blurted out. She glanced over to see his eyes wide and fixed on her stomach. “You’ve-“

“Don’t say it,” she demanded, pointing at him to reinforce the statement. “I’m perfectly well aware of the baby bump. I don’t want to hear one more person’s commentary. I’ve been fielding enough nosiness and subtle inquiries to last me for a year.” Her eyes kindled in irritation. “You’d think I’d kept the secrets to next year’s interest rates. It is nobody else’s business if I’ve decided to have a baby.”

He held up his hands, stepping back reflexively. “No argument here.”

Her glare stayed focused for another long moment before she slumped back into the chair with a sigh. “I’m sorry,” she offered, fingers moving up to rub her temples. “I’ve just been dealing with busybodies who seem to think that everything from the story of the conception to the name of the father to the type of birth is up for discussion. They also seem to think, despite my warnings otherwise, that my stomach has suddenly become public property.”

“You know,” he offered, “I can actually fire the whole floor. It wouldn’t take more than a phone call,”

Laughter spilled over. “Don’t do that,” she chuckled. “It might be fun for all of a day and then I’d have to help train the replacements.”

“Then let’s do lunch.”

“What about your equations?” she asked even as he pulled her out of her chair and began leading her out of the room.

He waved it off. “They’re not going anywhere, and you clearly need a break. We’ll go have some lunch, you can take a nap, and then I get my equations.”

“Tony, do not go through my files” she warned.

“I won’t mess anything up.”

“Do not go through my files,” she repeated.

“So, what do you want for lunch?” he asked as he led her into the elevator.

“Tony-“

“Darcy.”

She sighed. “Italian.”

“And away we go.”

**Snapshot 5**

Tony paced the room as Darcy lay on the examination table. His muttering ebbed and flowed at probably the same rate as his nerves. Over the past couple of months, she’d seen him torn between whether or not he thought it would be a good idea for this baby to be his. The _idea_ of a kid might be kind of interesting, but the idea of a kid _he_ would be partially responsible for? That bothered him. They had come in last week to give DNA samples, and the doctor assured them he would have the results when they came in for this week’s ultrasound. So Tony was nervous – he would learn whether or not this baby was his…and if it was, he’d learn whether or not he was responsible for a boy or girl Stark.

“Tony,” she laughed finally, “please stop. You’re making me dizzy.”

“Should I be panicking?” he asked, stepping up to her side. “I think I should be panicking. This could be my kid.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “We figured that out months ago.”

“No, no, no,” he shook his head. “We decided it was a vague suspicion, not a good possibility.”

“Okay…” Her voice grew confused. “I’m still thinking that covers the ‘might’ you were hinting at.”

“But now I’m going to know,” he protested. “It won’t be something to wonder maybe about or hinting at might. It’s going to be a yes or a no.”

A small fizzle of anxiety skittered through her. She got the panic, she did, but a part of her really wanted this to be Tony’s baby. If it wasn’t… Her hands trembled for a moment. They still didn’t know what had happened during the ‘lost week’. She could handle sharing a baby with her best friend – however she’d managed to actually _get_ pregnant – it would be something she could live with. If the baby wasn’t Tony’s…she wasn’t sure how she’d react.

She started to sit up, but Tony put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, what are you doing?”

Letting him guide her back down, she met his gaze. “Are you hoping for a positive or negative result?”

He sighed. Resting his forearms on the side of the bed and leaning down a bit, he held her eyes steadily. “What kind of dad would I make?” he asked softly. “Between Iron Man, Stark Industries, and everything else that comes with being Tony Stark? It’s not like I had the greatest example.”

“You had a perfect example of what _not_ to be,” she muttered.

He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, maybe, but Howard’s in here,” he noted, pointing to his head.

“And this baby and I have got advantages you didn’t,” she pointed out.

He frowned. “Like what?”

“Like _who_ ,” she grinned. “We’ve got Bruce and Pepper and JARVIS and a whole team of others to help make sure you don’t turn into Howard.”

A glint of humor glittered in his eyes finally. He shifted forward to place a kiss on her temple. “Point. Now we just have to find out if it’s me.” Eyeing her for a moment, he tilted his head in question. “And if it is me? What happens then?”

“I guess we figure out how to raise a kid,” she sighed as she leaned back. “I’m new to this too, you know.”

“And when you meet Mr. Right?”

“So sure of that, are you?” she laughed. “I haven’t met ‘him’ yet.”

“And it’ll be harder with you raising another guy’s kid.”

Darcy frowned and met Tony’s eyes. “He’ll either get over it or he’s not ‘Mr. Right’. I didn’t plan on a baby. I certainly didn’t imagine on having a baby right now…or that it might be _yours_.” Her chin titled up. “But you know what? I’m having a baby, and if it turns out that I’m sharing this baby with a guy I consider my best friend? Go me. Anybody that wants a relationship with me will have to accept her _and_ you and deal.”

Before he could speak, the door opened and Darcy’s obstetrician came in with a smile. “Good morning,” he offered gaily. “Are we ready to find out if we’re having a boy or a girl?”

Tony rolled his eyes before turning around. “Yes, _we_ are.” His tone and expression clearly delineated between the two of them and the doctor.

The doctor continued without a hitch in his overly cheerful tone. “Let’s take a look, shall we?”

Darcy patted Tony’s arm, keeping him from getting even more snarky with the man. Instead Tony watched carefully as the man manipulated the machine. She repressed a laugh…a machine, _any_ machine would hold his attention. Even now she could hear him muttering numbers and equations – probably some way to make the thing work better or faster or more efficiently. The doctor, used to the vagaries and eccentric behavior of the ridiculously wealthy ignored everything in favor of setting up the machine and prepping Darcy.

She squirmed slightly as the cold gel hit her stomach. _Would it hurt them to at least get this stuff to room temperature?_ Then she ignored everything to watch the pictures taking shape on the screen. The doctor’s voice was both sharp and blurred all at the same time. The words about the baby’s development and growth (normal and within average) washed over her. She heard every word as clear as a bell, but almost like she was hearing it through a tunnel from the next room. Her baby…that was her baby on the screen.

“Congratulations, it looks like you’re having a girl.” The doctor’s voice came loud and clear that time.

“A girl,” she breathed out with a small smile. The baby…… _she_ had been real to Darcy for weeks now, more than just an idea, but simply knowing there was a little girl growing inside her cemented it even more. Tony’s hand came to rest on her shoulder, and she reached up to hold it.

The door opened and she heard a nurse speaking softly to the doctor, but she didn’t turn away from the screen until the doctor cleared his throat. “We have the results of the paternity test as well.” Both of their gazes snapped to him, but neither of them spoke. They just waited. His eyes still smiled even as he turned a serious face to Tony. “The results indicate a ninety-eight percent probability that you are indeed the father.”

Darcy heard the rapid release of breath as it escaped Tony’s lungs and the hand on her shoulder tightened before falling away. Even as she heard him begin pacing and muttering once more, a nurse came into help her clean off the gel and handed her two pictures from the ultrasound. She found herself glued to the images once more, eyes growing moist even as a joyful smile stretched over her face. One of them was slipped from her grasp and Tony stared down at it. His eyes met hers and she could barely make out the kaleidoscope of emotions whirling in them…fear, awe, panic, excitement, and maybe a dozen more she couldn’t name.

“A girl,” he murmured softly and one tear etched its way down her cheek.

**Snapshot 6**

“Oh.”

Darcy stopped in the middle of her office, one hand going to her side as she felt a sudden pressure or maybe it was more of a fluttering coming from within.

“Are you in distress, Miss Lewis?” JARVIS asked immediately.

“No,” she reassured him. “No, I’m fine. It’s just…JARVIS, is Tony available?”

“Mr. Stark is en route. Shall I let him know you are looking for him?”

“Please,” she nodded. “And tell him I’ll be at my apartment.”

“Of course, Miss Lewis.”

She stood at the window just looking out over the city when she heard a chime. “Let him in please, JARVIS.”

“Hey, Darce, what’s up?” Tony breezed into the room with a sharp, shark’s grin.

She blinked at him and then laughed. “Who did you pull the rug out from under this time?” she teased.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied airily. “Can’t a man just be in a good mood?”

“Sure,” she agreed with a chuckle. “But you don’t wear _that_ grin unless you’ve just managed to really screw with someone’s day.”

He laughed. “Caught! Oh, well, I’ve got good news. We’ve found the idiots who managed to snatch us for a week.”

“You got them?” She hadn’t quite given up on finding out what had happened, but as the pregnancy proceeded, the whole thing had fallen to the back of her mind. There were more important things to focus on, but then Tony always was good at multi-tasking when he wanted to be.

“Found them, got them, nailed them,” he nodded. “SHIELD’s got them in custody because none of the other alphabet agencies could claim jurisdiction.”

She drew in a deep breath. “Did they tell you why? Why they did it?”

“Well,” he frowned, “that’s the part that pissed me off.”

“More than just the idea of it?”

He shrugged. “Really, when you look at it, it could have been worse.” At her lifted eyebrow, he held up his hands. “Not arguing they were wrong,” he insisted as he came to lean against the window. “I’m just saying it could have been worse.”

“Fine,” she agreed with a sigh. “It could have been worse, and I’m actually happy about the baby, but… Why did they do it?”

He folded his arms over his chest, a scowl etching across his face. “Because they could.”

“Because they could what?” Confusion filled her tone.

“They did it because they could do it,” he groused. “There was no plan, no ulterior motive. They’d just figured out some great new thing they could do and so badly wanted to prove that they _could_ do it that they didn’t bother thinking about anything else.”

Her mouth opened at time or two as she tried to think of something to say to that, but nothing came of it. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea of someone abducting two people, playing with their DNA, and impregnating one of them – not to mention screwing with their memories……all because they wanted to prove they could?

“Darcy?” Tony ducked his head a bit to meet her gaze. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “Really…it’s just…what a pack of creeps!” As she started to say more, the fluttering feeling came again. Her hand moved back to her side and she looked down.

“Darce? Darcy?”

Her eyes came up to meet Tony’s. “The baby’s moving.”

He blinked in surprise and then he started to step back, eyes widening. “Moving?” He took another step back. “Is she supposed to be doing that?” He took a third step.

“No you don’t,” she laughed. She darted forward and grabbed his hand. Holding it flat against the side of her stomach, she grinned up at him. “Wait.” Several long minutes passed, and she wasn’t sure if the baby would move again, but then…

Tony went still before a smile broke over his face. “She’s really moving.”

“Yes, yes she is.”

**Snapshot 7**

Her office door opened. Without looking up, Darcy snapped, “If it’s not an emergency or a life and death issue, come back later.”

“Aren’t we in a lovely mood?” Tony’s voice mocked back at her. She flashed a glare over her shoulder, but he only raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Not today,” she replied. “I’m tired, my back is killing me, and I’m the size of a house. I am not in the mood.”

Tony just stood there, and she could feel his eyes watching her. After several long, silent minutes, she turned around. “What?” she demanded.

“You are not the size of a house,” he pointed out calmly. “You do need a nap apparently, and that’s good because I have a surprise for you. Come on.”

“I’m working,” she told him.

He shrugged. “I’m the boss and I’m giving you the afternoon off.”

“I really can’t-“

“Yes, you really can.” His smile grew wide and mischievous. “You need to come see this.”

Her eyes scanned his face – the grin had such a little boy excitement about it – and gave in. Whatever it was, even if she had no clue and couldn’t fully appreciate it, had to be worth looking at if he was this happy about it. “Okay, Tony, dazzle me.”

“This way.” He guided her out of the room and onto the private elevator. It rose quickly and quietly…and kept going right past the lab floors.

A confused frown flickered over her face. “Ah, Tony, where are we going?”

“To the surprise,” he told her, lifting his eyebrows at the question.

“It’s not in the lab?”

“Oh, no, this is a surprise for you, not Bruce,” he explained. “You shouldn’t be around some of the stuff we’re working on right now anyway. Chemicals and that kind of thing…pretty sure it’s not good for pregnant women.”

“Okay,” she nodded slowly because she could actually get behind that restriction. “Then where are we going?”

The elevator door opened and he led her down the hall and into a set of rooms. “Here you are.” His hand encompassed the area like a grand showman.

“Here I am,” she agreed, hesitation still present in her voice. “Where is ‘here’?” They stood in a living area that managed to combine both open space and a cozy feel. It looked warm and inviting, and she was beyond tempted to see if the couch was as comfortable as it looked. First things first though. “Um, Tony, it looks great.”

He frowned at her. “Don’t you like it?”

“I like it,” she hurried to reply, noting the hurt lacing his tone. “I do, I just…” She shrugged. “What’s it for?”

“Oh,” Tony snapped his fingers. “Forgot that part. It’s your new apartment.”

“My new…” Her voice trailed off as she stared at him, jaw dropping slightly.

“Apartment,” he finished for her with a quick smile.

“I’m not-“

“Going to be able to say no,” he interrupted. “Your other place is fine if I do say so myself, but it’s meant for a single woman, not a mother. You need more room now that there are going to be two of you, and yes, I know you planned to keep the crib in your bedroom, but you have to think long term, Darce. What are you going to do when she’s a toddler?” He shrugged. “What if one night you actually have company? She needs her own space, and you can still keep her crib in your room until you’re ready to move it.”

Darcy looked around the living area. She still had so much trouble letting Tony splurge like this, but… He was right, she would want and need the extra room sooner or later. She could almost hear Bruce or Janet reminding her that this was Tony and this was how he did things. Plus – this was his daughter too. Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at him and she could almost see him expecting her to say no. She smiled and moved in to give him a quick hug. “Thank you.” He shifted uncomfortably, and she stepped back with a laugh. “Want to show me the rest of my new place?”

Tony’s eyes lit up and he nodded towards the back area. “Come on then.”

**Snapshot 8**

“Darcy, why are you doing that?”

Tony’s voice drew her attention to the door of the nursery. She glanced down at the brush in her hand and then back up at him. “I’m painting.”

“Yes, I can see that much,” he frowned as he walked in.

“Then why did you ask, silly man?” she laughed, turning back to her work. She had been planning the nursery ever since Tony created an apartment for her on one of the upper floors. Simple had been her keyword, and she’d managed to keep Tony more or less in line by going for a theme he could at least relate to _a_ science. Stars, moons, and suns made up astronomy, so she called it a win – she got something she could relate to – the heavens as a source of imagination; and so did he – the heavens as a science. Of course, she doubted most children had astronomically correct constellations on their ceilings and walls, but it kept the more scientifically minded of the household happy. The color scheme had been chosen on the likelihood that she would inherit either her dad’s manic energy or her mom’s tendency towards being emotional…a soothing blue-grey palette with soft white accents and the occasional hints of red and yellow for contrast.

“Let me clarify,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why are _you_ painting? I have people to do that. I think by this point, _you_ have people to do that.”

“I know,” she nodded, “but I just got into the mood to finish the nursery, and well, one thing led to another. I’ve only got this little bit left to do.”

“Okay,” he drew out, his eyes moving around the room. “This looks different. Is this different? Did you move all this?”

“All what?” she asked, distracted as she carefully maneuvered her brush around the trim work. One final brushstroke and…”There! Done!”

“Sir,” JARVIS spoke up. “Miss Lewis made an attempt at moving many things. However her attempts were unsuccessful.”

“That’s your fault,” she announced, putting the brush down in the paint tray and pointing an accusing finger at the camera. “You sicced DUM-E on me!”

“I merely enacted one of the many safety protocols designed to ensure your health and safety, Miss Lewis,” JARVIS replied, and she could swear she detected a light censure in his tone.

“Darcy, why are you moving everything around?” Tony questioned bewilderment in his voice. “You just set this stuff up last week.”

“I know,” she shrugged, moving to shift a chair a bit further from the wall. “And I _didn’t_ move everything. JARVIS told Happy who showed up at the door and did the moving for me.” Even as she started to lean over, DUM-E trundled forward. “JARVIS,” she sighed. “Make him stop. I just want to edge the chair a little closer to the light.”

“That’s enough,” Tony muttered, reaching out to take her in hand. “Come on. Let’s get some folks up here to clear up all the paint stuff and you can tell me what set you off about the place today.”

“I just had an idea,” she protested. “It’s not like something irritated me. I thought it would be better if I moved…oh, hey, you know if-“

“No,” he interrupted firmly. “I don’t know what this is, but you’re not going to make us crazy over the nursery.”

“I believe it is referred to as ‘nesting’, sir,” JARVIS informed him.

“What?” Tony looked up with a frown. “Like a bird?”

“”Nesting’ refers to a maternal instinct to prepare the home for a new child,” the AI replied.

“It’s-“ Darcy started to move back towards the chair.

“No.” Tony steered her towards the door. “It’s fantastic, perfect as it is. At least meet the kid before you worry about rearranging again.”

“But Tony-“

“No.”

“I just want to-“

“No.”

**Snapshot 9**

Darcy lay drowsing, her eyes never leaving the tiny figure in the crib next to her bed.

“She’ll have your last name, right?” Tony stared down at the small figure, his hand just touching the edge of the crib. “Not that I wouldn’t _want_ to claim her, but yours would be safer.”

“I know,” she agreed. “Calm down, Tony. She’ll be fine. Nobody outside of a couple of handful of people even knows she’s yours. They’re not the type to go blogging it all over the place.”

“But-“

“Not now,” she interrupted. “I just want to relax and enjoy the fact that she’s finally here.”

“Right.” Even as they talked, his eyes hadn’t strayed from the little girl sleeping so sweetly under her little pink blanket. “You know, for all the futures I considered, this wasn’t one of them.”

Darcy gave a soft, low laugh. “I don’t think there was any way to have planned for this one.”

“I wouldn’t change it though,” Tony admitted, tossing her a quick grin.

“Good,” she huffed, letting her eyes fall closed. “Speaking of changes, I gave you my choices. Did you decide?”

“Yeah,” Tony answered softly.

Darcy smiled and opened her eyes to meet his gaze. “And?”

“Alyssa Madison Lewis.”


End file.
